Nearly 5,000 parking tickets issued monthly in Boyle Heights as residents scour for spots

A parking crisis in Boyle Heights is resulting in thousands of tickets every month.

During a recent Coffee with CBS LA, almost everyone said that finding a spot has become a daily battle.

"There's no parking when you get home. Everything is taken," resident Jimmy Guevara said. "People fight for the parking."

Aside from the fights, Guevara said the lack of parking spots in the area has led to people parking in red zones, using cones to save a space, blocking driveways and double-parking in the street. 

"You can't park your vehicle," he said. "If you're disabled like me, you have to find parking close to your home."

Guevara said he has parked illegally because he cannot find a parking spot, resulting in a host of tickets that add up quickly. 

"You get tickets too. You get cited for parking wrong," he said. 

In recent city statistics, the Department of Transportation highlighted the scale of the issue, with nearly 5,000 tickets issued every month. It added that close to 61,000 of the 81,000 residents in the area have received tickets in the last two years. 

"Parking is definitely a challenge," Picaresca Cafe owner Elisa Hoyos said. 

Hoyos added that the lack of parking has at times affected her business. 

"Even as a business owner, we don't even have a parking space for ourselves," Hoyos said. 

Hoyos said she has to warn her customers to avoid getting parking tickets on Thursday and Friday during street-sweeping days.

"We're having to run and like notify people, 'Hey, the parking person is here," she said. 

City officials said the numbers reflect active enforcement, but people who live in the area said the root causes run deeper. 

"A lot of these houses don't have driveways, so people have to park their car on the street," Guevara said. 

Guevara said the lack of driveways contributes to the parking problem but doesn't feel it's the only contributing factor. 

"There's about three couples to one house, and they have vehicles, and they all want to come and park," he said. 

LA DOT said Boyle Heights saw a 17% increase in parking citations from 2023-2025. The area has the third-highest increase, compared to Downtown LA's 21% and Koreatown's 33.5%. 

"It's expensive," Guevara said. "It adds up."

Neighbors said the expenses are grueling for working families already facing rising costs. Many pointed to empty lots as a possible solution to the parking shortage. 

"There's a lot of empty lots that they can park their vehicle," Guevara said. "A lot of them that no one is using."

Residents hope the city can come up with a fair solution to the daily parking struggle.

"It's always like that added stress," Hoyos said.